Eternal Flame
by Merciful Heavens
Summary: Minerva watches the man she loves and wonders if he returns her love. Song does not belong to me... then again, does anything? ADMM... please review!
1. Her

She stood watching the man from behind the half closed drapes of his office window. A small grey tabby with large green eyes. Her heart was beating furiously inside of her chest. Adrenaline from the knowledge that what she was doing was perilous surged through her veins.

If the man she watched saw her; she might as well have stabbed an icy dagger into their long time friendship, not to mention the fact that he would never trust her again. And if she stayed to long and lost her balance she would fall to her death.

She brushed those rather unpleasant thoughts aside and focused her attention on the wizard inside the room.

_Close your eyes_

_Give me your hand_

_Darling, do you feel_

_My heart beating?_

She pushed her tiny nose up against the curtain as the window was open and laid down on the sill, carefully balancing her body. She had loved his for so long and she needed to be able to see him without worrying about what he or others thought about her staring at him.

_Do you understand?_

_Do you feel the same_

_Or am I only dreaming?_

_Is this burning?_

_An eternal flame_

The night was so cold, that she began to shake slightly from the bitter wind lashing at her. But inside of her heart, a flickering flame of love leapt undying to force her mind to forget the cold. If only he returned her love...

Suddenly the man rose from behind his desk and yawned, stretching his arms high above his head.

She loved him beyond simple physical attraction and ignored the good view she received as his robes were pulled taunt over his back and arms. It was the yawn that she paid the most amount of attention to. He was tired and needed to go to bed; needed to rest. For a brief moment, she wrestled with herself, forcing her body to remain on the window sill instead of jumping into the room and begging him to go to bed so that he would continue to feel well and rested.

But the man did not need her. He left the desk and its work by his own will and entered his bedroom.

The tabby sighed softly relieved that he had gone to bed, but sad that she could no longer see him. Taking her courage by the scruff of its neck, she leapt the short distance to the next window ledge and so on until she gracefully settled down on his bedroom window sill. By the time it took her to get to the window, he had already changed his robes and she was quite happy to peek into the open window and find him already sprawled out in his bed, mouth open, eyes closed.

_I believe it's meant to be, darling_

_I watch you when you're sleeping_

_You belong with me_

_Do you feel the same_

_Or am I only dreaming?_

She was beginning to shiver violently from the cold that assaulted her from all outward angles. But whilst her eyes were trained on the love of her life, she ignored all pain and thought. Her heart was on fire; she loved him, more than anything in the world.

_But is this burning?_

_An eternal flame_

If he were to rise up from the bed and welcome her into the room. Take her into his arms and lead her out into the sitting area, smile at her and declare his undying love for her, she would die the happiest woman on earth.

_Say my name_

_Sun shines through the rain_

_Of all life so lonely_

_Then come and ease the pain_

_I don't want to lose this feeling_

But he didn't and he wouldn't...

_Close your eyes_

_Give me your hand, darling_

_Do you feel my heart beating?_

_Do you understand?_

_Do you feel the same_

_Or am I only dreaming?_

She finally began to feel the cold as her body finally convinced her mind that it was indeed frozen stiff. Tears of pain formed in her eyes both from the physical pain that was threatening to overwhelm her and the emotional pain of loving the man asleep in the bedroom for so long with no assurance that it was returned. He was her friend and her employer.

She moved her trembling body closer to the window. The rustle of fabric from inside the bedroom almost gave her a heart attack as she saw the man rise from the bed and approach the window. He mumbled something about being cold and grabbed the window edge to pull the pane down. It shut with a dull slap.

She was left outside in the terrible cold with a freezing body and a frozen heart. The eternal flame was slowly dying. A flame requires oxygen to survive and she was dying in every definition of the word. Her body slipped from the sill and she fell toward her death.


	2. Him

He sat behind his desk, leafing through letters and papers that had long since bored him to indifference. His mind soon drifted away from the desk and even away from the duties he was supposed to be doing. He closed his twinkling blue eyes and sighed deeply.

_Close your eyes_

_Give me your hand_

_Darling, do you feel_

_My heart beating?_

He truly desired to sprout wings, so he might fly out of the open windows of his office. For a brief moment he thought about the lovely witch whom he had, unbeknownst to her, given his heart to. He turned slightly in his chair as his mind mulled over various ways that he could tell her that he loved her. None of them were good enough to portray how deeply he cared for her.

_Do you understand?_

_Do you feel the same_

_Or am I only dreaming?_

_Is this burning?_

_An eternal flame_

A cold breeze blew in from the open window and Albus shivered slightly. His eye lids drooped and he rose to close the window. But stopped as he remembered how lovely his deputy had been that night at dinner. He had longed to tell her right then how much he loved her, but had not worked up the courage to. Suddenly he yawned as his body informed him how tired his long day had made him, and he stretched his arms high above his head.

He knew he needed to go to bed. His deputy had trained him well over the years by several perfectly aimed glares that when he was tired he was to retire for the day, regardless of how much work awaited his attention. He only hoped that she would follow her own advice and not stay up to all hours of the night.

_I believe it's meant to be, darling_

_I watch you when you're sleeping_

_You belong with me_

_Do you feel the same_

_Or am I only dreaming?_

He changed quickly and rushed to get under the covers. The night was bitterly cold and he shivered even underneath all of his fluffy covers. With his eyes closed, he imagined how perfect she would look in her tartan dressing gown seated opposite him at the chess games they played so often. Physically, she was lovely, but he looked beyond that. Underneath the stone exterior which she partially shed for him and him alone he had seen a heart that none would ever compare to.

_But is this burning?_

_An eternal flame_

_Say my name_

_Sun shines through the rain_

_Of all life so lonely_

_Then come and ease the pain_

_I don't want to lose this feeling_

He sighed into his covers. He had often left his bed in the middle of the night to tiptoe through the cold dark hallways. Sometimes he would enter her bedroom and watch her sleep from the shadows of the curtains or in the corner. It always helped him to sleep knowing that she was healthy and safe in her own bed. His heart, unknown to her, was lit with a fire that only death could put out.

But she didn't know and that was always the thought that sent him back to his bed.

_Close your eyes_

_Give me your hand, darling_

_Do you feel my heart beating?_

_Do you understand?_

_Do you feel the same_

_Or am I only dreaming?_

The dream that she might be able to love him in return was cruelly pushed out of his mind. He was her bumbling idiot of an employer and her forever best friend. It was his own folly that he was resigned to remain in the prison of her friendship. Had he known how deeply he would grow to love her, he would have left Hogwarts immediately. It would have been better to have never been her friend or employer than to trap her in a web of friendship that neither of them dared explore in fear of tearing the material.

The night air finally made its presence known and he rose to go close the open window.

"Goodness, its freezing cold." he mumbled, shutting the window with a soft clang.

He turned to return to his bed, but something caught his eye. A small tabby cat was precariously perched on the window sill. With a gasp, he recognized the marking about its eyes and hurried to open the window. How could he have been so careless? He almost blasted the window open in his rush to save her, and as his hands shot out to grab her and keep her from falling; she fell.

(I could just leave you all hanging on that window with Albus... its up to you...review)


	3. Them

Chapter 3

Them

He all but jumped out of the window as the small tabby fell. Knowing it was several stories before she would hit the ground, he rushed back into the bedroom and grabbed his wand up from the dresser. He cast a quick lighting charm and saw her body still falling. Pointing his wand downward at her, he sighed in relief as her body began to float back up to him.

Finally he took her cold little body into his arms and held it gently against his warm chest. Her pulse was weak and despite the fur covering her body she was shivering violently. Not knowing what else to do, he gently coaxed her body back into its human form.

Tears leaked from his eyes and made trails down his cheeks as he looked down at her pale face. In her human form she shivered even more violently than before and he quickly hurried her over to his bed. Wrapping her snugly in all the covers he had on the bed and several more he had transfigured from various pillows and bolsters, Albus cast several light warming spells on her. He knew it would do her more harm than good if she was warmed to quickly, so he gently blew on her frozen white hands and held them rather rubbing them between his own warm hands.

_Close your eyes_

_Give me your hand_

_Darling, do you feel_

_My heart beating?_

Time passed slowly, as if it was afraid to pass at its normal pace in fear of missing some of the drama unfolding in the Headmaster's bedroom. The stars high above in the cloudless sky leaned forward to gaze into the bedroom window, which had been left wide open.

Minerva opened her eyes, confused by the warmth that enveloped her shivering body. She could barely feel her hands, but something warm was holding them.

For a moment her mind told her it was Albus, but a logical part of her refused to believe it. She was dead; or in a dream.

_Do you understand?_

_Do you feel the same_

_Or am I only dreaming?_

_Is this burning?_

_An eternal flame_

"Minerva?" Albus whispered, seeing her eyes flitter open. "I am so sorry." Although confused, Minerva unconsciously murmured in reply.

"Albus?"

He smiled broadly as she said his name and pulled off some of the covers to pull her easier into his arms. He knew why she had been out on that window ledge. He had sat on her window ledge often enough to understand why someone else would as well. Logic had answered his biggest question. She loved him too.

_I believe it's meant to be, darling_

_I watch you when you're sleeping_

_You belong with me_

_Do you feel the same_

_Or am I only dreaming?_

Minerva sighed, as warmth finally began to combat the cold that had overwhelmed her. She felt his strong arms about her; keeping her warm and safe at the same time. She should have fallen off that window ledge a long time ago, she thought whimsically. He kissed her forehead and she sighed once more. He loved her too.

_But is this burning?_

_An eternal flame_

_Say my name_

_Sun shines through the rain_

_Of all life so lonely_

_Then come and ease the pain_

_I don't want to lose this feeling_

She lifted her head just as he bent down his and they shared the first of many kisses. Minerva's heart melted as her love expressed himself to her and the flames that kept her undying love for him alive, leapt into a roaring fire that nothing and no one would ever be able to kill. An eternal flame.

**~The Beginning~**

However, this my dear readers is the end for you! It is never the end for Albus and Minerva...;) Thank you so much, all of you for your kind reviews and for bearing with me through several painful window hangers...

Humbly,

Merciful Heavens


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